Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui - Tag - Information TechnologyL'actualité du Viêt Nam2019-01-21T16:59:07+07:00Guénin Patrickurn:md5:11602DotclearVietnam to test 5G mobile network this yearurn:md5:bc2aefafbaab47d6f34ea9abbacad55c2019-01-07T15:46:00+01:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishInformation Technologytelecom<p>Vietnam will enhance its telecommunications infrastructure, expand its
broadband network and develop 5G mobile connectivity this year.</p> <p>The latter is a key component of the Government’s Resolution 01, in which
the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) will grant test 5G
frequencies to operators this year and expand them in 2020.</p>
<p>Head of the Policies and Planning Division of the Ministry of Information
and Communication’s Authority of Communications Tran Tuan Anh said Vietnam
defined 5G as network infrastructure for all sectors of the economy, not just
for communication. It would be expanded, raising the working capacity of all
sectors based on radiocommunication infrastructure.</p>
<p>Under the vision of Qualcomm, Nokia, Samsung and other companies developing
5G services and technology, the 5G mobile network will boost self-driving cars,
IoT and cloud computing.</p>
<p>Anh told enternews.vn that there were currently very few terminals
supporting 5G networks, so this technology did not yet have the capability to
reach everyone. With the needs of users today, 4G still met their demands.</p>
<p>“The implementation of 5G in Vietnam will depend on the role of network
operators and ICT enterprises. Vietnam also needs to build research centers on
technology for 5G, in addition to corresponding legal documents,” Anh said.</p>
<p>Worldwide, there are 18 5G networks deployed by more than 20 suppliers.
There are also 134 5G networks being tested in 62 countries around the world.
By 2019, the world will officially adopt 5G standard at the World
Radiocommunication Conference of the ITU, a specialized UN agency for
information and communication technologies.</p>
<p>Viettel Group is aggressively completing work to prepare infrastructure and
human resources for 5G technology with the expectation of becoming the first
operator in Vietnam to deploy a 5G network.</p>
<p>With a number of positive results in preparing 5G, Viettel aims to complete
a 5G broadcasting station version 1 in 2019, test 5G station network by 2020
and be ready to trade in 2021.</p>
<p>Deputy General Director of the Group Cao Duc Thang said Viettel was ready to
participate in the 5G test in 2019.</p>
<p>“We hope that there will be information on frequencies soon for Viettel and
other operators to prepare appropriate design and equipment, in order to meet
the frequency that the MIC is expected to use for 5G,” said Thang.</p>
<p>In an interview with ictnews.vn, CEO of Huawei Vietnam Fan Jun said that
Vietnam was the most dynamic emerging market in Southeast Asia.</p>
<p>He said the Prime Minister and Minister of MIC had repeatedly mentioned the
development of 5G in Vietnam, and Vietnamese operators were willing to test
5G.</p>
<p>He said the realization of 5G required four basic conditions including
national industry policy, frequency planning, preparation of application
infrastructure and training of talents.</p>
<p>These four basic conditions are indispensable. Different areas will have
different difficulties and challenges, thus it’s necessary to have the
participation of many parties working together, he added.</p>
<p>In this regard, Jun said his firm was ready to strengthen dialogue with the
Government and other network operators and partners related to 5G to promote
the development of the technology in Vietnam.</p>
<p>Viet Nam News / Asia News Network - January 7, 2019</p>Vietnam's richest man wants to sell smartphones and other smart devices across the worldurn:md5:4899c50af35defc92bcbe7dd9faefb102019-01-06T10:21:00+01:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishindustrialInformation Technologytelecom<p>Vietnam’s largest listed company by market value recently celebrated the
launch of its first line of smartphones in Ho Chi Minh City.</p> <p>The new business marks a significant departure for Vingroup, a conglomerate
that already operates in industries as varied as real estate, retail and
healthcare, among others.</p>
<p>“We want to invest heavily in research and <a href="http://blog.vietnam-aujourdhui.info/post/2019/01/06/the" title="the">the</a>
application of new technologies and techniques to contribute to promoting the
appearance of Vietnam on the world map,” said Nguyen Viet Quang, Vingroup’s
vice chairman and CEO.</p>
<p>Vingroup unveiled its four models of smartphones under the brand name Vsmart
in mid-December. The phones are to be available to consumers in Vietnam as well
as overseas markets like Russia and Spain. In its home market, the phones’
prices have already been set between 2.49 and 6.29 million dong ($107 to
$270).</p>
<p>The conglomerate also revealed at about the same time that it now holds a
51% stake in the Spanish smartphone maker BQ. The Madrid-based company has been
following a similar strategy to China’s Xiaomi, which sells handsets with
high-end specs that consumers want while keeping prices extremely low.</p>
<p>VinSmart, the unit that produces the phones in partnership with BQ, also
revealed that it had reached an agreement on intellectual property rights with
Qualcomm, the U.S.-based semiconductor and telecom equipment company. That deal
is said to be part of a wider partnership that will see the two companies
working to develop more smartphones, 5G, IoT devices, AI (artificial
intelligence) and autos.</p>
<p>Vinfast, the conglomerate’s auto company, broke ground in September 2017 in
Hai Phong, the port city near Hanoi. It plans to have five factories in place
producing up to 500,000 vehicles annually by 2025. &quot;We have passion to build a
Vietnamese car brand that can compete in the world market. We also want to
develop an industry that could <a href="http://blog.vietnam-aujourdhui.info/post/2019/01/06/help" title="help">help</a> other
industries in Vietnam,&quot; Pham Nhat Vuong, Vingroup's founder and chairman, told
Forbes Asia last year.</p>
<p>Vingroup’s ambition is to move beyond its industrial base and develop an
ecosystem of electronics and smart devices. It’s a remarkable trajectory for a
company that was started by Pham as an instant noodle business in the Ukraine
back in the 1990s. Pham leveraged his early success there to start building an
empire in his home country that now spans real estate, hotels, retail,
e-commerce, healthcare, education, agriculture and auto manufacturing.</p>
<p>Forbes recognized Pham as the first billionaire to emerge from Vietnam back
in 2013. His real time net worth is currently estimated at $6.3 billion.</p>
<p>By Sara R. Moulton - Forbes - January 3, 2019</p>To the dismay of free speech advocates, Vietnam rolls out controversial cyber lawurn:md5:cee63c5979cbea3fc7cbdf4a0fbc88042019-01-02T08:34:00+01:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishgovernmenthuman rightsInformation Technologyinternet<p>A new cybersecurity law has gone into effect in Vietnam that puts stringent
controls on tech companies operating inside the country and censors what its
citizens read online.</p> <p>The decree, which was passed by the National Assembly in June, requires
companies such as Facebook and Google to open offices in Vietnam, store local
user data and to hand over information if the government asks for it. It would
also require social media companies to remove any content authorities deemed
offensive or &quot;toxic.&quot;</p>
<p>Opponents of the law say it could hurt Vietnam's economic prospects and
allow the one-party communist government to further crack down on dissent and
free speech.</p>
<p>The industry group Asia Internet Coalition told Reuters that the law would
hurt Vietnam's ambitions for economic and job growth.</p>
<p>&quot;These provisions will result in severe limitations on Vietnam's digital
economy, dampening the foreign investment climate and hurting opportunities for
local businesses and <a href="http://blog.vietnam-aujourdhui.info/post/2019/01/02/small-to-medium-sized%20enterprises" title="small-to-medium-sized enterprises">small-to-medium-sized enterprises</a> to
flourish inside and beyond Vietnam,&quot; AIC Managing Director Jeff Paine said.
Both trade and foreign investment are critical components of Vietnam's
economy.</p>
<p>In a statement released shortly after it was passed, Clare Algar, director
of global operations at Amnesty International, said the law's sweeping power
&quot;has potentially devastating consequences for freedom of expression&quot; in
Vietnam.</p>
<p>&quot;This vote means there is now no safe place left <a href="http://blog.vietnam-aujourdhui.info/post/2019/01/02/in%20Vietnam" title="in Vietnam">in Vietnam</a> for people to speak freely,&quot; she said.</p>
<p>The Vietnamese government says the law is necessary to fight cybercrime such
as cyber-espionage, and prevent cyberterrorism. Maj. Gen. Luong Tam Quang,
chief of Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security, said in a news conference in
early November that the new cyber law brings Vietnam in line with other
countries that also want to protect their domestic users' information and that
the law was &quot;within the ability of business.&quot;</p>
<p>Internet companies have a year to comply, despite pleas from tech firm,
reports Reuters. U.S. lawmakers even made an appeal to Facebook and Google to
not comply with the law.</p>
<p>&quot;The cyber security law does nothing to protect internet users,&quot; 17 members
of the Congressional Vietnam Caucus wrote in a letter. &quot;Rather, it is a blatant
effort by the Vietnamese government to crackdown on online expression by
enlisting the help of leading technology companies.&quot;</p>
<p>Google declined to immediately comment to NPR about its plans now that the
law has been implemented. Facebook also did not immediately return a request
from NPR for comment. However, earlier this month Facebook said it &quot;remains
committed to its community in Vietnam and in helping Vietnamese businesses grow
at home and abroad,&quot; Voice of America reported.</p>
<p>A growing and youthful middle class in Vietnam is a draw for digital
companies, Bloomberg reports. Almost half of Vietnam's population uses the
Internet, according to the World Bank, and the country has more than 60 million
Facebook users. The new cybersecurity law comes into effect a little over a
year after Vietnam deployed a 10,000-strong cyber unit to combat &quot;wrong&quot;
views.</p>
<p>By Ashley Westerman - National Public Radio (.us) - January 1st, 2019</p>Vietnam’s rising tech talent help put country on the start-up mapurn:md5:e46e6f797675a1c8a6e9c50666c31e002018-12-29T17:43:00+01:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishInformation Technologytechnology<p>Growing up in Vietnam with American television shows and films, Vu Van
always dreamed about living in the United States.</p> <p>But when she finally moved to California after being accepted at Stanford
University in 2009, her spoken English skills, a work in progress, caused her
to feel left behind.</p>
<p>“I would be speaking up in class and my professors couldn’t understand me,”
she said. “Even though I had great ideas, they weren’t being received with full
attention. I lost a lot of confidence in that first year.”</p>
<p>Van’s experience inspired her to create the English Language Speaking
Assistant app after returning to Vietnam. Launched in 2015, ELSA, which uses
artificial intelligence to help English learners improve their pronunciation,
has already raised US$3.2 million in funding from Monk’s Hill Ventures, an
investment firm that focuses on Southeast Asian start-ups.</p>
<p>“I conducted a survey and 90 per cent of respondents said they felt scared
about speaking and there are no real solutions to help people solve these
challenges,” said Van, who estimates that 1.5 billion people globally are
learning English at any one time.</p>
<p>While the idea of AI-based language learning is highly original, Van’s
home-grown success story is just one of numerous Vietnamese start-ups that have
made their mark in recent years.</p>
<p>Emerging from the global financial crisis largely unscathed, Vietnam has
grown by 6 per cent on average each year over the past 10 years, making it one
of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Vietnam is also home to one of
the largest young populations in the world – more than 60 per cent of its 90
million inhabitants are under the age of 35.</p>
<p>These factors have made Vietnam home to one of the most vibrant start-up
scenes in the world.</p>
<p>Last year, 39,580 start-ups entered the market, according to a report by
Asean Post. Local start-ups received US$291 million in funding in 2017, double
the amount of the previous year. Most of these start-ups are in the tech
sector, which is poised to grow exponentially thanks to the nation’s young and
internet-savvy population.</p>
<p>Besides funding from Silicon Valley, local start-ups have also caught the
interest of regional giants.</p>
<p>Tencent was among the first in a string of Chinese firms to focus on the
country when, in 2008, it invested an undisclosed sum in Vietnamese technology
firm VNG, often cited as Vietnam’s answer to Tencent. JD.com invested around
US$50 million in Vietnamese online retailer Tiki earlier this year, according
to TechCrunch.</p>
<p>Eddie Thai, a partner at 500 Startups, a US$14 million micro-venture capital
fund, said Vietnam has remained attractive compared to other emerging
markets.</p>
<p>“In <a href="http://blog.vietnam-aujourdhui.info/post/2018/12/29/other%20parts%20of" title="other parts of">other parts of</a>
Southeast Asia including Singapore and Malaysia, start-up ecosystems have
matured,” Thai said. “Vietnam in turn, has risen in prominence due to its
strong economy, demographics, and talent.”</p>
<p>“Vietnam currently has around 250,000 engineers, the number of tech jobs
having doubled over the last three years,” he said, adding that Vietnam’s IT
labour costs are about 40 per cent less than in China and India.</p>
<p>Thai said many of the start-ups he invests in provide solutions for
Vietnam’s emerging market problems. Among them are Productify, a platform for
building financial applications; Detexian, which provides cybersecurity for
small and medium-sized businesses; and English-learning app ELSA.</p>
<p>“Vietnamese start-ups are especially equipped to tackle emerging market
issues,” Thai said, adding that he expects to see major developments in
fintech, e-commerce, transport and logistics, education and health care over
the next few years.</p>
<p>Like Vu Van, Vietnamese-American start-up founder Roy Nguyen’s story
involves a homecoming to solve emerging market problems.</p>
<p>“In 2013, I made a cycling trip across Vietnam and witnessed un-banked
people unable to access finance from financial institutions,” he said.
“Likewise, talented local artisans and young entrepreneurs are facing a lot of
problems to access capital.”</p>
<p>A year later, he launched Huy Dong, a peer-to-peer fintech service. Since
then, the start-up has partnered with SparkLabs, a South Korean accelerator, as
well as Silicon Valley Vietnam, a local government-run start-up initiative.</p>
<p>Vietnam’s unique socialist policies and communist history have affected the
development of the bustling start-up scene. Last year, Deputy Prime Minister
Vuong Dinh Hue announced that the government planned to increase the number of
businesses in Vietnam from 500,000 to one million by 2020.</p>
<p>“The government has an important role to play, especially around investing
in education and infrastructure, as well as creating a fair playing field with
transparent and streamlined rules,” said Thai. “Still, regulators in Vietnam
are generally seen as taking a ‘two steps forward, one step backward’ approach,
but overall the direction has been positive.”</p>
<p>Nguyen expressed a similar sentiment.</p>
<p>“Fortunately, in recent years, the government reduced the number of
state-owned enterprises and gave more space for the private sector to grow,” he
said.</p>
<p>The biggest difference between Vietnam and Silicon Valley is the scale and
size of the start-ups, according to Van.</p>
<p>“We just started a few years ago <a href="http://blog.vietnam-aujourdhui.info/post/2018/12/29/and" title="and">and</a> we don’t
have a lot of big companies that have gone global, that have a lot of
international investment like those in Silicon Valley yet.”</p>
<p>Nguyen said, however, that cloning the Silicon Valley model was not a
realistic option for Vietnam.</p>
<p>“In general, Vietnam offers lots of opportunities as a frontier market …
However, it also faces problems like the risk-averse culture, local monopolies
and a fragmented start-up ecosystem,” he said, adding that the government needs
to create more incentives for innovation and entrepreneurship.</p>
<p>As a nation that was divided between 1954 until 1976, regional differences
often impact the way nationwide start-ups and businesses operate. The culture
between the north and south remains very distinct, said An Ha, managing
director of Startup Viet Partners, an investment fund that focuses on seed
funding.</p>
<p>“In the south, people are more open and willing to try new things,” she
said.</p>
<p>“Northern people are more traditional in that they love the familiar and
things that are recommended to them,” she said, explaining that start-ups in
the north do better having fewer salespeople and representatives who build
strong relationships and trust. “The moment northern consumers realise the
product will bring more value to their lives, they will introduce their friends
to it.”</p>
<p>Regardless of region, Ha said the start-up scene is generating buzz
nationwide.</p>
<p>“In Ho Chi Minh City, there are lots of events, activities, meetups and
coffees where it’s easy to meet founders and entrepreneurs,” she said.</p>
<p>Sill, founders agree the scene is in its early days.</p>
<p>“From ideas to the number of incubators, investors, angel investors who come
in and support the system – I think the last few years we’ve seen a dramatic
amount of growth,” said Van, founder of ELSA.</p>
<p>“We’re growing fast, but we’re still really young and we still need many
more success stories to put our country on the map.”</p>
<p>By Crystal Tai - The South China Morning Post - December 29, 2018</p>Vietnam says Google weighing setting up a local officeurn:md5:1712d1985ceabafe82d3aca19357d4462018-12-15T17:18:00+01:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishInformation Technologyinternet<p>Alphabet Inc’s Google, the search engine giant, is studying steps to open a
representative office in Vietnam, according to the government of the south-east
Asian country, as Hanoi readies a tough new cyber-security law requiring
technology companies to establish a presence there and store data locally.</p> <p>However, Google did not confirm or deny concrete plans to establish an
office in Vietnam, a country with a population of 96m where more than half of
the country are active internet users.</p>
<p>“Google is studying steps to open a representative office in Vietnam,” the
Vietnamese government said on its website on Tuesday, citing Kent Walker, a
senior vice president with the company.</p>
<p>Google said that it remained “very excited to see how technology is being
used by businesses and people in Vietnam,” but did not confirm the Vietnamese
government’s claim.</p>
<p>“There are a number of different factors we look at before opening an
office, but we have nothing to announce at this time,” the company said.</p>
<p>Google’s next step in Vietnam, where it and Facebook are the two most-used
websites, is being watched closely ahead of the cyber-security law, which takes
effect on January 1.</p>
<p>Vietnam’s communist government says it needs the law to police online
content, including false news reports, but human rights groups say it could be
used to suppress free expression.</p>
<p>Foreign companies with an online presence have voiced concern about the
sweeping scope of the law and the power it could give law enforcement
authorities, as well as the requirement that they set up offices and store data
locally.</p>
<p>The Financial Times - December 12, 2018</p>Vietnam's Vingroup targets global markets with smartphones in tech shifturn:md5:ac64b2e63d5659ab02b3a3c8cdd0fbd32018-12-15T16:55:00+01:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishInformation Technologytechnologytelecom<p>Vingroup, Vietnam's top listed firm by market value, underlined its
technology ambitions on Friday with the launch of its first smartphones, which
it plans to sell around the world.</p> <p>Vingroup, Vietnam's top listed firm by market value, underlined its
technology ambitions on Friday with the launch of its first smartphones, which
it plans to sell around the world.</p>
<p>Once a real estate and retail focused conglomerate, Vingroup became
Vietnam's first fully-fledged domestic carmaker two months ago with a business
called Vinfast.</p>
<p>Its four Vsmart phone models are being made in its factory in Vietnam's
northern city of Haiphong, with a capacity to produce 5 million phones a year
in the first stage.</p>
<p>&quot;If Vinfast starts our industrial business, Vsmart is the starting point for
Vingroup to develop an ecosystem of electronics and smart products,&quot; Nguyen
Viet Quang, Vingroup's chief executive and vice chairman, said.</p>
<p>The Vietnamese firm wants to sell its smartphones and other smart products
to all continents and has identified Russia and Spain, where it owns 51 percent
of Spanish technology firm BQ, as potential markets in Europe.</p>
<p>In Vietnam, which has a population of 95 million, Vingroup will be looking
to win market share from Samsung and Apple with its new smartphones.</p>
<p>Vietnam is the largest smartphone production base for Samsung, while key
Apple supplier Foxconn is also considering setting up a factory.</p>
<p>The four Vsmart phones launched on Friday use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 435, 430
and 660 chips and Google's Android operating system.</p>
<p>They will go on sale in Vietnam from Saturday with a price range of
3.39-6.59 million dong (US$145.57-US$282.99).</p>
<p>Qualcomm and Vingroup's technology unit Vinsmart also signed a multimode
global patent license deal on Friday.</p>
<p>&quot;We will not stop at smartphones and will gradually roll out other smart
products,&quot; VinSmart's chief executive Tran Minh Trung said at the launch.</p>
<p>By Mai Nguyen - Reuters - December 14, 2018</p>Cashless services explode in Vietnamurn:md5:ba1d2eea9cabc00a801401edb598ac4d2018-12-04T09:02:00+01:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishbankInformation Technology<p>Vietnam’s central bank says the value of cashless transactions more than
doubled over the first three quarters of 2018.</p> <p>The Department of Payments at the State Bank of Vietnam reported a strong
rise in payments over electronic channels between January and September,
compared to the same period last year.</p>
<p>Accordingly, the value of online payments rose by 18.3 percent, while
transactions over mobile apps and e-wallets rose by 126 percent and 161 percent
respectively.</p>
<p>The number of transactions over Internet, mobile and e-wallet channels also
rose 33 percent, 30 percent and 28 percent respectively.</p>
<p>&quot;Mobile payment is becoming a new trend with the rise of technologies such
as QR codes, contact and contactless payments, and the tokenization of card
information,&quot; said Nghiem Thanh Son, deputy director of the department.</p>
<p>The first months of 2018 saw the number of users and the value of
transactions through electronic channels such as online, mobile and e-wallets
rocket at many banks.</p>
<p>At Sacombank, statistics show that as of October, the number of
registrations for online banking reached over 1.3 million accounts and for
mobile banking 1.1 million accounts. The total value of transactions per month
through both channels exceeded VND108 trillion ($4.63 billion).</p>
<p>For VietinBank, the country’s second largest lender by assets, the number of
internet banking users in the first half of this year surged 114 percent over
the same period last year to a total of 1.5 million accounts and VND44.26
trillion ($1.90 billion) in total transaction value.</p>
<p>Its mobile banking users also reached 1.5 million, engaging in transactions
totalling VND64.35 trillion ($2.76 billion) between January and June.</p>
<p>Over 7 million people are using digital services provided by MBBank. The
average transaction value per month reached VND27.4 trillion ($1.17 billion),
with digital transactions making up approximately 2.6 million out of 3 million
total monthly transactions seen at this bank.</p>
<p>Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the State Bank’s HCMC branch, noted
that the number of online banking customers has seen average annual increase of
20 percent in recent years.</p>
<p>Minh said that in order to continue developing non-cash payment channels,
credit institutions should pay attention to linking their cashless systems with
the public sector, specifically in areas like health, education, payroll and
utilities.</p>
<p>Cashless services should also expand to include online payment options for
public services like buses, trains and other smart urban solutions, he
said.</p>
<p>By Vien Thong - VnExpress.net - December 3, 2018</p>Vietnam cyber law will guard against fake news, terrorismurn:md5:665ede325bdd96268ea1107d5b50ce1b2018-10-31T13:26:00+01:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishhuman rightsInformation Technologyinternet<p>A Vietnamese cybersecurity law that global technology companies and rights
groups have warned could undermine development and stifle innovation, will
protect the country from increasing cyber threats, the security ministry has
said.</p> <p>Legislators approved the law in June, overriding strong objections from
companies like Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s Google, rights groups and Western
governments including the United States.</p>
<p>But the Ministry of Public Security, which administers the police, said the
Communist nation was threatened by tens of thousands of large-scale cyber
attacks that directly cause serious economic losses and threaten security and
social order.</p>
<p>“The enactment of the Cybersecurity Law is essential to meet the urgent
requirement to protect cybersecurity,” the ministry said in a
question-and-answer session posted on its website.</p>
<p>The law, which comes into effect next year, requites foreign technology
firms to set up offices and store data in Vietnam.</p>
<p>Facebook and Google, both widely used in the country, do not have local
offices or local data storage facilities.</p>
<p>The ministry said there had been no effective way to control things such as
fake news and slander which caused “unfortunate consequences”.</p>
<p>It also said unidentified “enemy” and “reactionary” forces were using cyber
space to call for protests and incite riots and terrorism.</p>
<p>Despite sweeping economic reforms and increasing openness to social change,
Vietnam’s Communist Party retains tight media censorship and does not tolerate
dissent.</p>
<p>Officials from private companies have privately expressed concern that the
law will make it easier for authorities to seize customer data and expose local
employees to arrest.</p>
<p>The ministry said people’s information would not be disclosed and firms
would only be asked to provide user information for investigations or law
enforcement under strict procedures.</p>
<p>The law would not prevent people from accessing Facebook or Google, the
ministry said, but anyone who violated it would be dealt with strictly.</p>
<p>By Mai Nguyen - Reuters - October 31, 2018</p>Is Vietnam going to be Asia’s digital transformation underdog ?urn:md5:be78075e976db69f443c72ffdd06ef0e2018-10-29T09:00:00+01:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishInformation Technology<p>When you think of digital transformation in Asia, you tend to think of
countries like Singapore and Hong Kong leading the region.</p> <p>However, according to a new study by Cisco, Vietnam is one of the hidden
gems that has been winning with digital as a result of regulations formulated
by a forward-thinking government and enterprising innovations by local startups
such as Baomoi and Lozi.</p>
<p>In fact, the country’s efforts in cybersecurity have made it an industry
leader in the region.</p>
<p>The ASEAN average for the adoption of cybersecurity is 59 percent while
Vietnam soars high at 88 percent. Singapore and Thailand, it’s closest
competitors, hover near the regional average at 60 and 59 percent
respectively.</p>
<p>The country’s recent Cyberspace Operations Command, established to oversee
the internet and help the government and military control the digital space has
drawn some negative attention but it has also helped tighten the country’s
focus on cybersecurity.</p>
<p>In fact, Vietnam has recently issued a new cybersecurity/digital privacy
bill that will come into effect early next year. While the bill is said to
negatively impact foreign tech giants such as Facebook and Google, it is said
to have made the region much stronger in terms of digital privacy and
cybersecurity.</p>
<p>Cisco’s survey found that 81 percent of IT leaders in the country’s
businesses are thinking about upgrading their infrastructures in order to
increase their cybersecurity posture.</p>
<p>Through concerted effort between the government and some leading tech
businesses in the region, Vietnam has also become a country whose IT managers
are increasingly confident about its digital transformation strategy.</p>
<p>“It scored the highest (99 percent) when they were asked whether their
organization has a digital transformation strategy, and was the only country
where all managers said they believed their institution’s digital
transformation strategy was adequate to achieve their goals,” said the
report.</p>
<p>Businesses in Vietnam are focused on leveraging the cloud and automation in
order to drive their digital transformation, alongwith cybersecurity — and it’s
not just the large multinationals. The survey suggests that some of the smaller
entities are working on this too.</p>
<p>From the looks of it, Vietnam might just lead the next wave of innovations
and drive digital transformation projects to propel itself ahead of its
competitors.</p>
<p>By Soumik Roy - Tech Wire Asia - October 29, 2018</p>How technology is transforming lives in Vietnamurn:md5:0ed38b8478698e573333851e16455dee2018-10-16T08:26:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishInformation Technology<p>While Industry 4.0 may call to mind images of futuristic smart cities and
robot waiters, it’s already transforming Vietnam.</p> <p>Tran My Tien is a hard-working employee of a famous bank in HCM City.</p>
<p>Looking at her outstanding performance, no one can believe the 30-year-old
has another job on the side: she is the co-owner of a coffee shop called Cai Lo
Gach Cu in District 11 that opened several months ago.</p>
<p>Talking about how she manages to juggle two jobs at the same time, she
merely said “technology”.</p>
<p>She was referring to the phone applications she uses to monitor everything
in the shop like cash flow, revenue growth, supply sources, and others.</p>
<p>While many people may not understand industry 4.0 and other technological
changes, they are clearly sweeping across the country.</p>
<p>On the one hand, there are many conferences on esoteric concepts like big
data, cloud, Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence, on the other,
these have already entered daily life to benefit users.</p>
<p>Tien is one of those benefiting from the hi-tech revolution.</p>
<p>“I don’t know much about 4.0 but it is true that modern technology,
including phone applications and social media like Facebook, have helped me
much in doing business.”</p>
<p>She told Viet Nam News, “Modern technology has enabled me to manage the
coffee shop from far away so that I can do many jobs at the same time.”</p>
<p>She uses two apps for the task. They also help her calculate the volume of
materials required and show her which the peak business hours are so that she
can organise promotions.</p>
<p>On the website of the World Economic Forum, President and CEO of Siemens Joe
Kaeser said, “The fourth industrial revolution is transforming practically
every human activity: the way we make things, the way we use the resources of
our planet, the way we communicate and interact with each other as humans, the
way we learn, the way we work, the way we govern, and the way we do business.
Its scope, speed and reach are unprecedented.”</p>
<p>Obviously, the technological changes are changing the lifestyles of
Vietnamese so quickly that many people feel they can’t live without the tools
technology provides and they benefit greatly from them.</p>
<p>Even a few years ago no one thought they could buy a bubble tea or a meal
without going out of the office or at least making a phone call.</p>
<p>Food delivery apps now do all this for them.</p>
<p>If we go to a beverage shop or restaurant in big cities like HCM City and
Hanoi, it is easy to see people in uniforms ordering food and beverages.</p>
<p>They are staff of food-order delivery apps like Now.vn and Grab Food buying
food and drinks for customers for delivery.</p>
<p>Do Minh Phuong of HCM City’s District 7 told Viet Nam News that “technology
is now indispensable” in her life.</p>
<p>She uses the food delivery services frequently when “I want a bubble tea in
the afternoon but cannot leave the office or want to buy fresh food but do not
have enough time to go to supermarket or market”.</p>
<p>“Modern technology is making life easier for people,” Phuong said.</p>
<p>Another app that is of great benefit is the one for hailing motorbike
taxis.</p>
<p>In recent years this service has become popular around the country and
provides employment to many people. A spokesperson for a new motorbike taxi
hailing app, GoViet, told Viet Nam News that after a six-week test period the
company had signed up 3,000 drivers in HCM City and Hanoi.</p>
<p>There were 1.5 million downloads during this period, he said.</p>
<p>Do Kim Ngoc, a senior citizen living in Hanoi, said “motorbike hailing is a
very useful service”.</p>
<p>“They are always ready, I can now go around the city without waiting for my
children to take me when they are free.”</p>
<p>A shipper from Lalamove said it was easy for him to find a job thanks to
modern technology.</p>
<p>He said he had applied for a job at a major automobile company and while
waiting for it he decided to work as a shipper for Lalamove. He had to thank
technology for the opportunity, he added.</p>
<p>Vietnam News - October 16, 2018</p>Vietnam mulls banning sales of pre-used SIM cardsurn:md5:ffe80515d9db90ca4024702ea16a86252018-10-04T09:07:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishInformation Technologytelecom<p>The Ministry of Information and Communications has proposed the ban of
pre-used SIM card sale to better control network subscribers.</p> <p>If approved, its amendments to a 2011 government decree will outlaw sales of
existing prepaid SIM cards.</p>
<p>They will also ban the activation of SIM cards before full and correct
information about subscribers is obtained.</p>
<p>This is the ministry's latest attempt to regulate the use of mobile services
and check the widespread use of SIM cards registered in other people’s
names.</p>
<p>In an attempt last year it had ordered mobile network operators to sign
agreements to stop selling pre-registered SIM cards and sought to punish
violations.</p>
<p>But the effort failed with sales of pre-registered SIM cards continuing to
occur openly, allowing people to easily buy SIM cards without providing any
identification whatsoever.</p>
<p>The ministry also proposes amendment would also scrap a requirement for
subscribers that use more than three SIM cards.</p>
<p>According to current regulations, subscribers are only required to provide
personal information and sign a declaration form to register for their first
three prepaid mobile subscriptions. However, starting from the fourth
subscription, users are required to sign a contract with the network operator
for each number.</p>
<p>The regulation was initially established as a soft measure to prevent
businesses from pre-registering and pre-activating SIM cards before
selling.</p>
<p>It however has not been as effective as expected as businesses cannot know
if the users sell their SIM cards without re-signing their contracts to reflect
the change of ownership, the ministry said in its proposal.</p>
<p>By Nguyen Ha - VnExpress.net - October 3, 2018</p>Vietnam to speed development of 5G networkurn:md5:61cfa5f02a3166efd0865cf3c9220d1c2018-10-02T09:12:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishInformation Technologytelecom<p>Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications is encouraging the
development of broadband infrastructure to complete the 4G network and begin
work on 5G as early as possible to enhance the performance of the Internet of
Things (IoT).</p> <p>This goal was stressed by Deputy Minister of Information and Communications
Phan Tam at the Vietnam ICT Investment Forum 2018, which opened on Thursday in
Hanoi.</p>
<p>The forum highlighted the importance of digital connectivity infrastructure
in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It also focused on next-generation mobile
technology, internet security and strategies to enhance co-operation between
Southeast Asian countries.</p>
<p>Tam said the Fourth Industrial Revolution is causing unprecedented changes,
leading to the emergence of new business models and production methods.</p>
<p>“We are witnessing a powerful industrial transition. There will be
opportunities to make breakthroughs,” Tam said.</p>
<p>He stressed that, in the context of these global changes, Vietnam’s
government is determined to develop forward-thinking policies.</p>
<p>The ministry has proposed |policy incentives that would boost the digital
transition.</p>
<p>The incentives firstly aim to encourage the completion of the 4G network and
then quickly move on to 5G to prepare for the Internet of Things.</p>
<p>According to Tran Tuan Anh from Vietnam Telecommunications Authority, 5G
networks are the future of the telecommunications world.</p>
<p>Vietnam’s advanced mobile networks reach about 96 per cent of the
population, providing 51.2 million users with 3G coverage and 13 million with
4G.</p>
<p>Viettel holds a 51.5 per cent share of the broadband market, followed by
VNPT with 28.4 per cent, MobiFone with 12.7 per cent and FPT Telecom with 3.8
per cent.</p>
<p>Tam added the second purpose of the policy incentives is to attract new
foreign investments in telecommunications and information technology sectors.
The hope is to turn Vietnam into the region’s leading producer of
communications and IoT equipment.</p>
<p>“The government hopes more technology companies will invest in Vietnam,” Tam
said. He added that investment of foreign companies has played a big role in
the development of the ICT sector.</p>
<p>The third and final policy goal is to build out a well-trained workforce,
equipped with relevant modern skills, to ensure nobody is left behind by
industrial changes.</p>
<p>The government has made an effort to improve policies to get ready for
anticipated industrial changes, Tam said. It has also continued to integrate
with the rest of the world, opening up space for business deals with foreign
companies.</p>
<p>Indian Vice Minister of Communications Ravi Kant also spoke at the forum. He
said India wants to strengthen co-operation with Asean member countries,
including Vietnam, to expand its IT exports.</p>
<p>India is interested in digital innovation and developing sustainable
infrastructure.</p>
<p>As part of the two-day forum, the India-Asean ICT Expo has attracted nearly
40 IT firms to display their most innovative products.</p>
<p>Some highlighted fields include smart cities, transportation management and
banking.</p>
<p>Vietnam News via The Nation - October 2, 2018</p>Vietnam reaches for a homegrown tech revolutionurn:md5:adbaa7783138a84ce948e6bf5f6223c12018-09-28T09:19:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishInformation Technologyinternet<p>Communist planners and private players have prioritized development of
indigenous social media and computing platforms to supplant Facebook and
Google</p> <p>Nguyen Manh Hung has been acting Minister of Information and Communications
for only two months but he has already reverted to the script left by his
predecessors: Vietnam needs to develop its own homegrown social media
platforms, he said this month.</p>
<p>This has been a popular refrain by successive information ministers since
the beginning of the decade, either because of a desire to more effectively
control political content expressed on social media or as a way of developing
Vietnam’s emergent tech industry.</p>
<p>Yet the perennial desire to trump the likes of Facebook and Google – unlike
in China – have so far remained elusive.</p>
<p>Most of Vietnam’s 57 million active social media users spend their time
predominantly on Facebook or Youtube. We Are Social, a social media analytical
agency, found in a recent report that Vietnamese users tend to spend almost the
same amount of time on either of these platforms.</p>
<p>The study also found that Vietnam has the seventh highest number of Facebook
users worldwide, at 58 million users, a figure that has increased 16% from last
year.</p>
<p>Vietnam has more than 200 homegrown social media platforms, but few are
popular and most are either simply imitations of forums or resemble technology
developed a decade ago in America, analysts say. There are some exceptions,
however.</p>
<p>Zalo, a messaging app, reportedly has 70 million subscribers and 35 million
active users in Vietnam, far more than competitors like China’s WeChat or
WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook. But Facebook Messenger beats Zalo as the
most popular messaging app in Vietnam in terms of monthly active users,
according to We Are Social data.</p>
<p>Still Information Minister Hung’s latest appeal might win more success than
past evocations.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, he said that he wants homegrown social media platforms
to gain a 60-70% market share by 2022. That figure is likely unachievable, say
analysts, but it doesn’t mean that indigenous platforms cannot compete
increasingly more effectively with foreign competitors.</p>
<p>For starters, social media, along with associated e-commerce sites, will
play an important role in building Vietnam’s technological economy, a goal of
government leaders for several years.</p>
<p>In 2012, when the government issued its national strategy for science and
technology, it projected high-tech products and applications to make up 45% of
gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020, an estimate that could be achievable with
a longer end-date.</p>
<p>Vietnam is desperate to avoid a “middle-income trap” and has tapped its
growing tech industry as a means for climbing up the skills ladder. Last year,
software exports were worth US$2.5 billion, according to data from the Ministry
of Information and Technology.</p>
<p>That’s a reflection of rising investment in Vietnam’s tech industry. The
Topica Founder Institute, a regional startup accelerator firm, reports that
US$291 million was invested in Vietnamese startups last year, up 42% from
2016.</p>
<p>While the majority of those funds came from foreign investors, several new
Vietnamese venture capital firms, such as ESP Capital and Sea Group, are
focused on funding tech startups.</p>
<p>VNG, the company which owns the Zalo platform, reported revenues of US$186
million last year, up almost 40% from 2016. It is financially backed by Chinese
tech giant Tencent, the Chinese giant behind WeChat.</p>
<p>China’s online retail giant JD.com has also invested in Tiki, a Vietnamese
e-commerce platform. VNG also controls a 38% stake in Tiki, according to local
media reports.</p>
<p>Vietnam’s tech industry also has major private sector support. Vingroup,
Vietnam’s biggest privately held company, announced last month that it will
expand into the fields of artificial intelligence, software development and big
data.</p>
<p>It also has plans to create a Silicon Valley-style community of
entrepreneurs and developers in the capital, the FT reported. Part of this plan
is the formation of VinTech, its new tech unit, that will create two research
institutes to develop big data and high-tech applications.</p>
<p>“Investments in the two sectors will not only help Vingroup reach new
heights, but also create a new tech-industry environment to boost Vietnam in
the world’s technology ceremony,” Vingroup’s deputy general director, Nguyen
Viet Quang, was quoted as saying.</p>
<p>Vietnamese social media firms may benefit from greater state intervention,
especially if Hung remains as acting minister of information and
communications.</p>
<p>He brings the expertise he gained while serving as CEO of Viettel, a
military-run telecom giant that dominates Vietnam’s telecoms sector and now
controls a substantial stake in the telecoms industries of other developing
nations, including in Myanmar.</p>
<p>The relationship between Vietnam’s tech firms and its Communist Party is
opaque. Some human rights activists claim that the government has ties with VNG
Group, but this is unconfirmed and there are no obvious overlaps. Moreover,
there is scant evidence that Hanoi wields the dominant control over its tech
sector as Beijing does in China.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, Vietnam’s homegrown tech firms will still likely be more pliant
to the Party’s wishes than foreign-owned platforms. Whenever Hanoi announces
its desire for more Vietnamese-made social media platforms, it is usually
interpreted as an attempt by the ruling Communist Party to control the
internet.</p>
<p>When the previous Minister of Information and Communications, Truong Minh
Tuan, raised the subject of homegrown social media last year, he framed the
debate around what he called the “good and bad people on social media.”</p>
<p>Hung, the current minister, has also noted the political nature of the
debate. “Without our own digital ecosystems or social networks, we simply
cannot negotiate with Facebook or Google. They will continue to disobey our
laws, while we are unable to cut business ties,” he said in September.</p>
<p>Social media has immeasurably altered Vietnam’s political landscape,
allowing for the formation of a “public sphere” that has never really developed
offline since the communists took power and unified the country’s northern and
southern regions in 1975.</p>
<p>Hanoi doesn’t possess the censorship technology of China’s so-called “Great
Firewall”, nor can its regulators effectively block virtual private networks
(VPNs), which means domestically banned websites are still easily
accessible.</p>
<p>In 2015, then-prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung noted that the government
“won’t be able to ban” social media, so he advised ministers to adopt the
platforms for their own sake.</p>
<p>But since the 2016 Party Congress, at which Party Secretary General Nguyen
Phu Trong emerged supreme, the current administration has arrested and jailed
far more people for posting critical messages on social media than under
Dung.</p>
<p>It has also outsourced censorship responsibilities to internet service
providers (ISPs) and, since last year, to social media firms themselves.</p>
<p>This is increasingly true of predominant foreign social media firms,
including Facebook and Google. Between January and July this year, Facebook
removed more than 1,000 posts that were considered in violation of local laws
and deactivated 137 accounts that “slandered” the Communist Party, claimed
former information and communications minister Tuan.</p>
<p>Yet politics doesn’t explain it all. Hung made the economic nature of the
debate explicit when speaking earlier this month. Social networks in Vietnam,
he said, create US$370 million in advertising revenue each year. Of that
figure, he added, US$135 million went to Google and US$235 million to
Facebook.</p>
<p>The Vietnamese government also complains that foreign tech firms, namely
Facebook and Google, pay unacceptably low amounts of tax. Between 2016 and
2017, the domestic partners of these two companies paid less than US$5.3
million combined in taxes, according to a Ministry of Finance report from last
year.</p>
<p>As part of a new cybersecurity law, which will come into effect in January,
foreign-owned tech firms will be required to open representative offices and
branches in Vietnam, which will mean they will also be bound to pay higher
taxes.</p>
<p>Controversially, they will also be required to build servers in Vietnam, on
which local user data will be stored, according to the new law. If the Ministry
of Public Security, in charge of cybercrime, decides that it wants to access
user data from their servers, foreign tech giants will be obligated by law to
relinquish it.</p>
<p>It will also mean a more level playing field for competing Vietnamese social
media companies. If homegrown firms can dominate the market, the government
would be able to increase its own revenue through higher taxes while also
gaining tighter control of the country’s online sphere.</p>
<p>By David Hutt - Asia Times - September 27, 2018</p>Vietnam newspapers report 'considerable impact' from data center’s failureurn:md5:6458a7a4906e0b43b0d21f46e29e95b22018-09-26T09:14:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishInformation Technologyinternetmedia<p>Some online newspapers in Vietnam said power disconnection at a data center
on Sunday caused big losses in their readership.</p> <p>Readers could not access several news sites in Vietnam, including the
popular Thanh Nien, Tien Phong, Sai Gon Giai Phong, Voice of Vietnam, Zing, and
Bao Moi, for hours on Sunday due to disconnected power supply at VinaData, a
data center owned by tech company VNG.</p>
<p>The newspapers, which all use the ePi content management system hosted on
the center, could not be accessed between 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.</p>
<p>Mai Ngoc Phuoc, editor in chief at Phap Luat (Laws) newspaper, said the
volume of pageviews at its website plo.vn fell 30 percent from the normal
weekend level.</p>
<p>“The incident also left a considerable impact on the running of
advertisements on our site. We are still collecting specific figures of the
damage.”</p>
<p>Nguyen Ba, deputy editor in chief at Infonet.vn, the news website of
Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications, reported similar loss of
pageviews on Sunday.</p>
<p>&quot;There are several major events and stories that happened on Sunday that
attracted readers but our site went offline for hours. Our reporters and
editors had their hands tied during the period,” he said.</p>
<p>In an email sent to its clients earlier, VinaData said the disruption was
due to a power cut at Quang Trung Software City (QTSC) in Ho Chi Minh City,
where the data center is located.</p>
<p>But Phuoc of Phap Luat said VinaData had been &quot;careless&quot; and failed to have
a back-up plan because QTSC had informed its clients about the power cut
several days before.</p>
<p>He goes on to say that Phap Luat is looking at ways to avoid such incident
in the future.</p>
<p>“We are considering switching to another data center that is more stable and
prestigious.”</p>
<p>Speaking to the media Sunday afternoon, Nguyen Tan Hung, public relations
chief of the Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation, said QTSC had been informed
five days earlier.</p>
<p>Hung claimed the blackout occurred due to an issue with VNG's backup power
generator.</p>
<p>In addition to the news sites, VNG services such as music player application
Zing MP3, messaging application Zalo, online television service Zing TV,
payment gateway ZaloPay, and VNG's online games also became inaccessible.</p>
<p>After power supply resumed, the online newspapers and Zing's services came
back on at around 4:30 p.m. But Zalo, ZaloPay and VNG's online games remained
inaccessible as of 11 p.m. Sunday.</p>
<p>VNG's services are widely used in business and communication.</p>
<p>It its latest statement, VNG sent an apology to its customers and say “this
is the most serious problem that has ever occurred to its data center” and the
incident “has left a significant impact” on its clients and users.</p>
<p>The company refused to release figures of its damage and said it will work
with clients to “review all the specific damage and have solutions to protect
their rights and interests.”</p>
<p>Many Zalo users affected by the Sunday hiccup are expecting answers.</p>
<p>“I pay almost $1,000 each month to run advertisements on Zalo but the app
did not work on Sunday,” said Duc Hoang, an online retailer.</p>
<p>“I haven’t heard anything from Zalo about what it’s going to do to
compensate me,” he said.</p>
<p>Nguyen Hong Phuc, a security expert, said it is “unacceptable&quot; when VinaData
blamed the power cut for its failure.</p>
<p>Electricity, network and the cooling system are the three basic foundations
of a data center and also the reasons why customers use the service instead of
having their own servers, he said.</p>
<p>On its website, VinaData said its service meets Tier III Certification's
standard with a full system of power source and cooling system.</p>
<p>But Uptime Institute, the American professional services organization that
adopts the Tier standard and the associated certification of data center
compliance with that standard, said there are only two data centers in Vietnam,
which belong to telecom giants VNPT and FPT, that meet its Tier III
criteria.</p>
<p>In other to acquire the Tier III standard, a data center should offer 99.982
percent of availability with less than 1.6 hours of interruption each year
year.</p>
<p>The incident on Sunday is the second time this year that VNG has been hit by
a systemic problem. In April, detailed personal information of over 163 million
Zing ID account owners were leaked on an online forum.</p>
<p>By Quynh Anh - .VnExpress.net - September 25, 2018</p>Vietnam urges Facebook to open office ahead of controversial cyber lawurn:md5:4cd3500c4e32a2f6c9e71cbc791749812018-09-18T08:21:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishhuman rightsInformation Technologyinternet<p>Vietnam has asked Facebook (FB.O) to open a local office as the
Communist-ruled country increases pressure on global technology firms to abide
by a controversial cyber security law.</p> <p>Critics of the law, which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2019, say it gives Hanoi
more power to crack down on dissent because it would require Facebook, Google
(GOOGL.O) and other global technology firms to store locally personal data on
users in Vietnam and open offices in the country.</p>
<p>“Acting information minister Nguyen Manh Hung suggested Facebook, given its
successful business in Vietnam, should reserve revenue to invest in research
and development and soon open an office in Vietnam,” the official government
website said late on Thursday.</p>
<p>A spokeswoman for Facebook said she had no comment.</p>
<p>Despite sweeping economic reforms and growing openness to social change, the
ruling Communist Party tolerates little dissent and exercises strict control
over media in Vietnam.</p>
<p>Global tech firms have pushed back against the provisions for locally-stored
data, but they have not taken the same tough stance on the parts of the law
which bolster the government’s ability to crackdown on online political
activism.</p>
<p>Company officials have, however, privately expressed concerns that local
data centers and offices could make it easier for the authorities to seize
customer data and expose local employees to the threat of arrest.</p>
<p>Simon Milner, Facebook’s vice-president of public policy for Asia Pacific,
met on Thursday with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on the sidelines
of a World Economic Forum meeting in Hanoi.</p>
<p>Phuc said Facebook should be responsible for the security, safety and
protection of its 60 million user accounts in Vietnam, the government website
quoted the prime minister as saying at the meeting.</p>
<p>Gil Kaplan, Under Secretary for International Trade at the U.S. Department
of Commerce, said on Monday he would raise the cyber security issue in his
meetings this week with Vietnamese government officials, including the Prime
Minister.</p>
<p>In July, seventeen U.S. lawmakers urged the chief executives of Facebook and
Google to resist changes stipulated by the new law.</p>
<p>Last week, acting information minister Hung said Vietnam should promote
home-grown social networks in order to compete with Google and Facebook and
capture more of the social network market share in Vietnam, state media
reported.</p>
<p>By Mai Nguyen - Reuters - September 14, 2018</p>Vietnam’s Viettel Telecom joins enterprise network alliance, ngenaurn:md5:7b2dc24373c09678fcda8da8a26668392018-08-23T08:31:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishInformation Technologytelecom<p>The coalition provides software-defined networking services around the
world</p> <p>Vietnam’s state-owned mobile network operator Viettel Telecom is teaming up
with an international coalition of network operators, the Next Generation
Enterprise Network Alliance (ngena).</p>
<p>By joining the group, Viettel is effectively pooling its network resources
with the other members to provide managed SD-WAN services to its enterprise
customers across Southeast Asia - using virtualization software from Viptela (a
Cisco subsidiary) and Comarch and Equinix infrastructure. The software-defined
network is managed via a single central platform.</p>
<p><strong>VPNs all round</strong></p>
<p>Established by Deutsche Telekom, CenturyLink, SK Telecom and Reliance Jio in
2016, the alliance now comprises 18 operators, including Telus, SFR, Portugal
Telecom, KPN, MTN and more.</p>
<p>Thanks to Viettel’s membership, ngena’s coverage will be extended to
Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, according to its managing director
Alessandro Adriani.</p>
<p>He welcomed the company to the group, stating that “Viettel is amongst the
top 100 most valuable telecom brands in the world and will be the operator of
choice for many enterprise customers.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Viettel’s international business center director Doan Dai Phong
said the company is “thrilled to join the ngena alliance as it allows us to
sell global VPN solutions to our enterprise customers.”</p>
<p>He continued: “ngena has been our SD-WAN provider of choice as it enables us
to provide globally, consistent services while maintaining full control over
the customer experience. There is also a great potential for other ngena
alliance partners to offer data connectivity services in the local markets
Viettel operates in, such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.”</p>
<p>Viettel Telecom is a subsidiary of Vietnam’s largest telecommunications
provider, Viettel Group. The parent company owns and operates infrastructure in
12 countries, spanning Asia, Africa and North America.</p>
<p>By Tanwen Dawn-Hiscox - DatacenterDynamics - August 22, 2018</p>Vietnam’s Vingroup to build tech hub for forays into AI, big dataurn:md5:45eabc7bf793823d5afad30ae8050eef2018-08-22T08:51:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englisheconomyInformation Technologyinternet<p>Homegrown conglomerate aims to become partner of choice for
multinationals</p> <p>Vingroup, Vietnam’s biggest private-sector company, said on Wednesday that
it planned to expand into artificial intelligence, software and big data and
set up a Silicon Valley-style tech hub in Hanoi.</p>
<p>The sprawling Vietnamese group, which is already involved in real estate,
retail, agriculture, education, carmaking and mobile phones, announced it was
creating VinTech, its newest business unit, at a ceremony in the Vietnamese
capital on Wednesday. Vingroup said that it aimed to become “an
international-standard technology-industry-service conglomerate” within 10
years.</p>
<p>Vingroup said that VinTech would specialise in developing AI products,
software programmes and new-generation materials. It said that it had set up
two new research institutions devoted to big data and high tech, as well as a
technology investment fund focused on projects “that are applicable on a global
scale”.</p>
<p>“Investments in the two sectors will not only help Vingroup reach new
heights, but also create a new tech-industry environment to boost Vietnam in
the world’s technology ceremony,” said Nguyen Viet Quang, Vingroup’s deputy
general director.</p>
<p>The company said that it had committed to employing 100,000 technology
students within 10 years, and planned to build a tech hub in the Vietnamese
capital modelled on Silicon Valley. Vingroup gave no details of the amount it
planned to invest in the fund, or its foray into high tech.</p>
<p>The push into tech will mark the latest move into a new business area by a
company that describes itself as a “cradle to grave” supplier of goods and
services to Vietnam’s fast-growing economy, and is positioning itself as a
partner of choice for foreign companies seeking to enter the market.</p>
<p>It will come at a time when the country’s communist rulers are seeking to
promote “national champion” local producers in areas such as carmaking and
pharmaceuticals.</p>
<p>Vingroup has over the past year listed Vincom Retail and Vinhomes, its
retail and real estate arms, and embarked on a bold but risky move into car and
scooter production through VinFast, its automaking division. Vinfast’s partners
and vendors include General Motors, BMW, and Siemens, with which Vingroup
agreed earlier this month to produce electric buses.</p>
<p>The company grew rich as Vietnam’s economy opened to the world, and Forbes
lists his net worth as $6.7bn, making him the country’s richest man.</p>
<p>By John Reed - The Financial Times - August 22, 2018</p>
<p>Separately, Vingroup last month announced an agreement with the Spanish
company BQ to produce smartphones under the Vsmart brand name.</p>
<p>“They are moving away from their original core business of real estate into
a new core business of lifestyle,” said Fiachra Mac Cana, head of research at
Ho Chi Minh City Securities. “Perhaps we need to look at comparative companies
in countries like South Korea and Japan, where you have your classic chaebol
with five or six businesses that is seen as a national champion.”</p>
<p>Vingroup was founded in 1993 under the name Techcom by Pham Nhat Vuong, a
former geology student in Moscow, who developed what was to become Ukraine’s
top instant noodle brand.</p>Global domain names come to Vietnamurn:md5:76aa1be145e5a7c439aefb02ea1822932018-08-22T08:41:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishInformation Technologyinternet<p>The availability of a series of new foreign domain names in the Vietnamese
market is offering more choices to local companies and opening up new
opportunities for domain name registrars.</p> <p>Six years after the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or
ICANN, approved a plan to increase the number of Internet domain name endings
from those that includes such familiar domains as .com, .org and .net, many new
domain name endings have been created such as .ONLINE, .XYZ, .CLUB and,
recently, .TOP, .SITE, .LTD, .LOAN, and .WIN.</p>
<p>The new domain name endings have to compete not only with traditional ones,
but also with each other to find a foothold in the market, according to
experts.</p>
<p>They said many new domain names have been launched in foreign markets since
2012, but have only been promoted in the Vietnamese market in recent years.</p>
<p>Vietnamese enterprises are keen on using new domain name endings, especially
in the context of an increase in number of enterprises and shortage of
traditional domain endings, they said.</p>
<p>Foreign domain registrars have sought to collaborate with local domain name
suppliers to expand their presence and improve their competitive edge.</p>
<p>Huynh Ngoc Duy, CEO of Mat Bao Corporation, the official domain name
registrar of ICANN and VNNIC (Vietam Internet Network Information Centre),
said: “Many new domain name providers have contacted Mat Bao to bring their new
domain names into Vietnam.</p>
<p>“In order to meet the diverse demands of enterprises, Mat Bao has actively
contacted many registrars to bring unique domain names to Vietnam.”</p>
<p>Foreign domain name registrars have also collaborated with other reputed
domain name providers in the country to enhance links with Vietnamese
users.</p>
<p>The Nation / Vietnam News - August 22, 2018</p>Vietnam says controversial cybersecurity law aims to protect online rightsurn:md5:125a1edcd7f8915372a57daacd51b7df2018-07-20T09:35:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishgovernmenthuman rightsInformation Technologyinternet<p>Vietnam’s new cybersecurity law is designed to protect online rights and
create a “safe and healthy cyberspace,” the foreign ministry said on Thursday,
although critics have warned it gives the Communist-ruled state more power to
crack down on dissent.</p> <p>Seventeen U.S. lawmakers wrote to the chief executives of Facebook and
Google on Wednesday, urging them to resist changes wrought by the new law that
require foreign tech firms to store locally personal data on users in Vietnam
and open offices there.</p>
<p>“As in any other country, the activities of foreign businesses and investors
should comply with the laws of the host country,” foreign ministry spokeswoman
Le Thi Thu Hang told Reuters in a comment on Wednesday’s letter.</p>
<p>“The ratification of the cybersecurity law is aimed at creating a safe and
healthy cyberspace,” Hang said in a written statement in response to a request
for comment.</p>
<p>That would protect the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and
individuals online, and ensure national security as well as social order and
safety, she added.</p>
<p>Despite sweeping economic reforms and growing openness to social change,
Vietnam’s Communist Party tolerates little dissent.</p>
<p>Global technology firms have pushed back against the requirement to store
user data locally, but have not taken the same tough stance on the parts of the
law that bolster the government’s crackdown on online political activism.</p>
<p>In particular, the new law gives more direct control over online censorship
to the Ministry of Public Security, which is tasked with crushing dissent.</p>
<p>Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hang did not directly address those
accusations, as outlined in Wednesday’s letter from U.S. lawmakers, but said
freedom of speech was a right enshrined in Vietnamese law.</p>
<p>“The state of Vietnam always respects and facilitates the rights of its
citizens to exercise freedom and democracy but is resolutely against the abuse
of those rights to commit illegal activities,” Hang added.</p>
<p>Approved by Vietnamese legislators last month, the law takes effect on Jan.
1 next year.</p>
<p>By James Pearson - Reuters - July 19, 2018</p>Un groupe de hackers chinois a attaqué le Cambodgeurn:md5:67867771da30095f3243b797ffe955332018-07-20T08:53:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiInfos en françaisCambodgeChineInformation Technologyinternet<p>Selon l’entreprise de sécurité informatique FireEye, différentes
organisations basées au Cambodge ont subi ces derniers mois des attaques
informatiques menées par une équipe de hackers chinois.</p> <p>Mardi 10 juillet, l’entreprise de sécurité informatique américaine FireEye a
déclaré avoir des preuves qu’une équipe de hackers chinois baptisée
TEMP.Periscope avait effectué des attaques informatiques contre différentes
cibles au Cambodge, dont plusieurs ministères, le Comité électoral national,
des médias et certains dirigeants du CNRP, le principal parti d’opposition
dissous en novembre 2017 par la Cour suprême cambodgienne.</p>
<p>Selon FireEye, ce groupe de hackers actif au moins depuis 2013 est
certainement lié aux autorités chinoises, TEMP.Periscope tentant de dérober des
informations qui pourraient être utiles à Pékin, comme semble le montrer la
nature des cibles. Les hackers auraient envoyé des fichiers malware à leur
cible en utilisant de fausses identités afin d’infecter leurs systèmes
informatiques et récupérer des informations. Selon le site spécialisé dans la
sécurité informatique undernews.fr, les cibles identifiées de TEMP.Periscope
sont principalement basées aux Etats-Unis, mais aussi parfois en Europe et à
Hong Kong.</p>
<p>Le ministère des Affaires étrangères chinois a déclaré qu’il n’était pas au
courant des actions de TEMP.Periscope et s’opposait systématiquement aux
cyberattaques.</p>
<p>Lepetitjournal.com - 19 juillet 2018</p>U.S. lawmakers urge Google, Facebook to resist Vietnam cybersecurity lawurn:md5:4f8aa67edf11cb5a0fc3205c680d010a2018-07-17T15:41:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishhuman rightsInformation TechnologyinternetUnited States of America<p>Seventeen U.S. lawmakers have urged the CEOs of Facebook and Google to
resist changes stipulated by a new cybersecurity law in Vietnam, which critics
say gives the Communist-ruled state more power to crackdown on dissent.</p> <p>The law, which was approved by Vietnamese legislators last month and takes
effect on Jan. 1, 2019, requires Facebook, Google and other global technology
firms to store locally personal data on users in Vietnam and open offices
there.</p>
<p>“If the Vietnamese government is coercing your companies to aid and abet
censorship, this is an issue of concern that needs to be raised diplomatically
and at the highest levels,” the Congressional Vietnam Caucus said in a letter
seen by Reuters.</p>
<p>“We urge you to live up to your stated missions to promote openness and
connectivity,” said the letter dated July 12 and signed by 17 caucus
members.</p>
<p>Global technology firms have pushed back against provisions that would
require them to store user data locally, but they have not taken the same tough
stance on the parts of the law which bolster the government’s crackdown on
online political activism.</p>
<p>Company officials have, however, privately expressed concerns that local
data centers and offices could make it easier for the authorities to seize
customer data and expose local employees to the threat of arrest.</p>
<p>Jeff Paine, Managing Director of the Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), an
industry group that led efforts to soften the legislation before it was passed,
said the law had created “great uncertainty” for Vietnam’s reputation as an
investment destination.</p>
<p>“Vietnam will need a more progressive approach and smart regulations on
internet technology and digital services to benefit its economy and people in
the long term,” Paine said in a statement responding to the letter on behalf of
AIC’s eleven members, which include Facebook and Google.</p>
<p>Vietnam’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p>Despite sweeping economic reforms and growing openness to social change, the
ruling Communist Party tolerates little dissent and exercises strict controls
over media in Vietnam.</p>
<p>Tuoi Tre, a popular newspaper in the Southeast Asian country, was given a
three-month ban on publishing news to its website on Monday, Vietnam’s
information ministry said.</p>
<p>The paper published “false information” and allowed inappropriate comments
to be made on its website, the ministry said.</p>
<p>Tuoi Tre apologized on Monday and blamed a technical error for the lack of
moderation in its comment section. The paper was fined 220 million dong
($9,544.47).</p>
<p>Concerns over information control in Vietnam, underpinned by the passing of
the cybersecurity law, have driven some Vietnamese activists to seek
alternative social media platforms.</p>
<p>Bill Ottman, founder of Minds.com, a U.S.-based social media platform which
promotes internet freedom, said his website had seen a spike of 150,000 new
users from Vietnam since the cybersecurity law was passed.</p>
<p>By James Pearson &amp; Mai Nguyen - Reuters - July 17, 2018</p>Vietnam part of attractive Southeast Asian start-up sceneurn:md5:9ff5248731ca9e0c10584721e3694ff32018-07-16T08:59:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishInformation Technologyinternet<p>Investor says country highly promising even at nascent stage.</p> <p>The trend of investing in Southeast Asia start-ups gained momentum in
2016-17, including in Vietnam, though the country has yet to get its “unicorn,”
or a privately held start-up with a valuation of $1 billion or more.</p>
<p>“I think one of the reasons start-ups in Southeast Asia get such attention
from foreign investors is the 'unicorn' companies, which attract talent from
other countries to the region,” KK Fund’s general partner, Kuan Hsu, said.</p>
<p>“In contrast to Vietnam and Malaysia, which are yet to have any unicorns,
Indonesia already has four companies in this category.”</p>
<p>Vietnamese start-ups received $61.5 million worth of investments last year,
Tech in Asia reported. But Topica Founder Institute (TFI) said it is much
higher than that, with $300 million invested in 92 different deals, and
potentially even higher.</p>
<p>Hsu said that Vietnam and Indonesia are favored destinations for anyone
looking to start companies because they have big populations on top of large
numbers of young people, and thus have huge consumption potential.</p>
<p>Nikhil Kapur, head of South Asia, GREE Ventures, agreed with that view,
saying Vietnam shows many promising signs of becoming a start-up nation though
it is still at an early stage.</p>
<p>“We will evaluate annually to determine Vietnam's potential growth for
start-ups. But at the moment, we need more time to carefully study the market
because Vietnam is different from other countries in the region. Some
businesses are on the right path to becoming a successful company.”</p>
<p>Research shows there is a new start-up for every 57,982 people in Vietnam.
According to the website Worldometers, the country had roughly 1,664
start-ups.</p>
<p>But Hsu said the nationality of founders does not matter when counting the
number of start-ups in a country, only where the businesses are registered.</p>
<p>For instance, Loi Luu, a Vietnamese entrepreneur and the CEO of Kyber
Network, registered the business' headquarters in Singapore. As a result, this
successful company, listed among the 50 most successful start-ups in Southeast
Asia in terms of attracting investments, is considered Singaporean.</p>
<p>Now e-commerce is the most popular sector with foreign investors.</p>
<p>The Vietnam E-commerce Association said the country’s e-commerce market grew
by 25 percent last year and this rate is expected to continue through 2020.</p>
<p>Last year the sector saw 21 deals worth $83 million, the highest of all
sectors.</p>
<p>It was followed by culinary technology, financial technology,
communications, transportation, and online travel.</p>
<p>The start-up to attract the highest funding was Foody, which received $198
million from Sea Group for an 82 percent stake.</p>
<p>Sea Group also bought two unnamed companies in logistics and financial
technology for $64 million and $50 million.</p>
<p>Rounding off the top six were Tiki ($54 million from JD.com Inc), an unnamed
company ($20 million from TNB Ventures) and Vntrip ($10 million from Hendale
Capital).</p>
<p>By Tung Ha - VnExpress.net - July 16, 2018</p>Vietnam should create "digital chances” for enterprisesurn:md5:6660bd9013b3b2ba3e5773b5fb8f1e102018-07-16T08:47:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishInformation Technologyinternet<p>Industry 4.0 Summit and Expo 2018 opens with a fresh prospective for IT
improvement in Vietnam</p> <p>The Vietnamese government should create “digital chances” for enterprises to
engage with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), representatives of
enterprises and experts, told Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the Industry
4.0 Summit and Expo 2018 in Hanoi.</p>
<p>The summit discussed the “Vision and Development Strategy in the Fourth
Industrial Revolution”, connecting political leaders with experts in
information technology.</p>
<p>It also reviewed the role of policymakers in formulating a proactive
approach to Industry 4.0 and international co-operation, as well as proposing
solutions and options to optimise breakthrough technologies in all
socio-economic fields in the country.</p>
<p>Industry 4.0 Summit and Expo 2018 follows from the Smart Industry Word 2017
conference and exhibition, which attracted over 2,000 local and international
delegates from manufacturing, energy, IT and telecommunications sectors.</p>
<p>Other recommendations brought to the table by business representatives
during the reception with PM Phuc include that the government cuts the red tape
and builds special policies for IT enterprises.</p>
<p>If applied, they argued, these measures should create favourable conditions
for enterprises to launch new technologies.</p>
<p>They also suggested that the Government helps in enhancing the quality of
human resources, particularly high-quality personnel in the field of IT.</p>
<p>Speaking at the meeting, head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic
Commission Nguyen Van Binh declared Vietnam’s special focus on developing IT,
and that Vietnam will consider the building of specific policies following the
model of a “legal framework 4.0” to create optimal conditions for enterprises
and people to take advantage of technological productions in the future.</p>
<p>PM Phuc stressed the fact that Vietnam has jumped 12 notches on the Global
Innovation Index for 2017 and two for 2018 but also acknowledged that the
country is still weak in the stage of implementation, requiring more drastic
measures to enhance the speed of IT application, especially among science and
technology officials and enterprises.</p>
<p>Highlighting the significance of the Industry 4.0 Summit and Expo 2018, PM
Phuc expressed his hope that the delegations will give answers to the question
of how Vietnam can become successful in the Fourth Industrial Revolution and
also clarify some of the Industry 4.0-related concepts.</p>
<p>By Cristina Lago - Chanel Asia Singapore - July 16, 2018</p>U.S., Canada urge delay in vote on Vietnam's cybersecurity billurn:md5:af4391bc679b87768d6b2d75331ee2e72018-06-10T11:41:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishCanadaInformation TechnologyinternetUnited States of America<p>The United States and Canada urged Vietnam on Friday to delay a vote on a
proposed cybersecurity law, the U.S. Embassy said, amid widespread concern the
law would cause economic harm and stifle online dissent in the communist-ruled
country.</p> <p>Vietnamese lawmakers are set to vote on the proposed cybersecurity
legislation this month. It aims to impose new legal requirements on internet
companies and intensifies policing of online dissent.</p>
<p>Facebook, Google and other global companies are pushing back hard against
provisions outlined by the bill that would require them to store personal data
locally on users in Vietnam and open offices in the country.</p>
<p>“The United States and Canada urge Vietnam to delay the vote on the draft
law to ensure it aligns with international standards,” the U.S. Embassy said in
a statement.</p>
<p>“We find the draft cyber law … may present serious obstacles to Vietnam’s
cybersecurity and digital innovation future, and may not be consistent with
Vietnam’s international trade commitments,” it said.</p>
<p>Trade and foreign investment are key to Vietnam’s export-driven economic
growth, while its leaders have been promoting technology for growth.</p>
<p>The Vietnam Digital Communication Association (VCDA) had said of the latest
draft that it could reduce Vietnam’s gross domestic product by 1.7 percent and
wipe off 3.1 percent of foreign investment if it comes into effect.</p>
<p>The proposed law has also raised fears among activists about tougher
restrictions on the voicing of dissent online.</p>
<p>“This bill, which squarely targets free expression and access to
information, will provide yet one more weapon for the government against
dissenting voices,” Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a
statement.</p>
<p>The rights group urged Vietnam to revise the draft law and bring it into
compliance with international legal standards.</p>
<p>If passed, the law would require social media companies in Vietnam to remove
offending content from their platforms within one day of receiving a request
from the Ministry of Information and Communications, and Vietnam’s Ministry of
Security, the government body tasked with dealing with dissent.</p>
<p>By Mai Nguyen - Reuters - June 8, 2018</p>Is Facebook helping Vietnam’s pro-democracy crackdown ?urn:md5:51847e52216d5b564f547046b85b2d152018-06-03T18:14:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishhuman rightsInformation Technologyinternetmedia<p>Activists say the US social media giant is obliging Communist Party requests
to block and take down democracy and rights-related content</p> <p>Social media giant Facebook is under pressure worldwide to censor content
deemed as offensive. In most democratic nations, this means restricting hate
speech and stopping the spread of overtly “fake news.”</p>
<p>In Vietnam, however, the ruling Communist Party has argued that
pro-democracy and pro-human rights content is political destabilizing and even
illegal, a view with which Facebook appears to have acquiesced.</p>
<p>Last year, Facebook’s global policy management head, Monika Bickert, met
with Vietnam’s Information Minister Truong Minh Tua. Prior to the meeting,
Hanoi had threatened that it would demand domestic firms to stop advertising on
Facebook, the firm’s major revenue stream, because of anti-government materials
carried on the platform.</p>
<p>After the meeting, Hanoi said that Facebook had agreed to open a direct
communication channel to monitor unwanted content, though Facebook stated that
its policy in Vietnam had not changed. It remains unclear whether Facebook has
altered its algorithms for news feeds in Vietnam.</p>
<p>In April, the US-based Viet Tan political party penned an open letter to
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, that was signed by almost 50
Vietnamese human rights groups and independent media.</p>
<p>Since last year, the letter read, “the frequency of takedown<a href="http://blog.vietnam-aujourdhui.info/post/2018/06/03/s" title="s">s</a> has increased and Facebook’s assistance has been unhelpful in
restoring accounts and content.” It went on: “The takedowns and account
suspensions have happened without the affected users being told the reasons for
the violation or the specific content that is in violation.”</p>
<p>If Vietnam’s Communist Party has been successful in co-opting Facebook to do
its censorship bidding, it will be the culmination of years of coercive
efforts. Earlier this decade, the Party tried spurring on homegrown social
media platforms to compete with Facebook, the most widely used platform in
Vietnam.</p>
<p>If successful, these local startups would have made it easier for the Party
to censor content. But they ultimately proved unpopular and Facebook dominant;
only homegrown Zalo, a messaging app, emerged as a viable competing platform.
Vietnam is now Facebook’s seventh largest market, while the Vietnamese spend
more time on it than other Southeast Asians.</p>
<p>Now, Facebook and Google are reportedly pushing back against Hanoi’s demand
that they store the data of their Vietnamese users locally and open domestic
offices, as will be required by pending cybersecurity legislation. But,
observers say, the tech firms have made little fuss about the legislation’s
censorship caveats aimed at suppressing free speech.</p>
<p>For years, Vietnam’s aspiring democrats and pro-rights activists had a safe
place on the Internet. Political blogs and articles critical of the ruling
Party were easily shared on Facebook, as were exposés of corruption and
government misconduct. Arranging meetings of like-minded democrats was easier,
too.</p>
<p>So, too, was conversing safely with journalists. Anonymous profiles,
meanwhile, afforded users greater protection in Vietnam’s highly censored
public sphere. For optimists, empowered “netizens” were carving out a new
democratic realm in a communist country where the idea of an individual
“citizen” is tenuous.</p>
<p>Indeed, internet restrictions in Vietnam have been largely ineffectual until
now. Blocks on certain websites are easily bypassed with the use of virtual
private networks (VPNs).</p>
<p>Imposing a full-blown firewall, considered by the government in 2009, was
deemed too risky to economic growth. Online samizdat is thus still widely
accessible in Vietnam, though prominent online activists often pay a heavy
price for their critical blogging on Facebook.</p>
<p>Blogger Nguyen Nhu Quynh, alias Mother Mushroom, was sentenced to 10 years
in prison for defaming the regime through 18 articles she published on her
Facebook page, including one that raised questions about the high number of
deaths in police custody in Vietnam.</p>
<p>Indeed, safe online spaces are shrinking due to the Party’s renewed drive to
crackdown on online content, raising questions about how, and if, pro-democracy
activists can continue their struggle. Vietnam is poised to pass a new
cybersecurity law, which was first proposed by the Ministry of Public Security
last year.</p>
<p>President Tran Dai Quang, whose month-long absence from public in August
last year sparked an array of online rumors, most untrue, has led the call for
new laws that censor “bad and dangerous content” online. The law would also
censor content that undermines the “prestige” of Party officials and the state,
he said.</p>
<p>This will be coupled with the Party’s proposed new “code of conduct” for
social media users, which will try to limit “trolling” and the spread of
violent images but also aim to suppress critical political messages.</p>
<p>Dissent has been met with even greater government suppression since 2016,
when Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong expanded his powers at a Party
Congress. It is estimated that there are now more than 100 political prisoners
in Vietnam, with the list growing every month.</p>
<p>This culminated in April with the mass imprisonment of six prominent
activists, some with sentences as long as 15 years in jail, who were charged
with the anti-state crime of “carrying out activities that aim to overthrow the
people’s administration.”</p>
<p>The pending cybersecurity legislation is designed to silence leading
critical voices. So, too, is the 10,000-strong military cyber warfare unit,
dubbed Force 47, which is tasked with countering “wrong” views expressed
online.</p>
<p>It does so through trolling, spreading pro-Party propaganda and flagging
content for authorities to investigate. Force 47 was likely responsible for the
nabbing of Bui Hieu Vo, a blogger who was jailed for four-and-a-half years
earlier this month for expressing so-called “anti-state propaganda” on
Facebook.</p>
<p>Hanoi’s pincer movement is designed to not only silence online criticism,
but also break up networks of democrats and other pro-rights activists, such as
the Vietnam Independent Union, Free Viet Labor Federation and the Committee for
Human Rights in Vietnam, to name but a few.</p>
<p>The Brotherhood for Democracy, an activist network established in 2013, is
under direct assault. All six of the activists sentenced in April were accused
of being members, including co-founder Nguyen Van Dai. As well as providing
skills to activists on how to remain secure online, the Brotherhood for
Democracy also organizes meetings between activists.</p>
<p>The Party is no doubt concerned that Vietnam’s once disparate rights-groups
have started forming closer alliances, both online and offline. Urban
democrats, for example, have worked hard to form ties with rural land-rights
activists. Many groups, from labor rights to religious bodies, have also come
together to demonstrate against environmental destruction, best seen in the
protests following the Formosa toxic spill.</p>
<p>A free internet and social media has aided the development of these
alliances, allowing activists to converse online before meeting in-person.
Since 2014, the Party has actively tried to disrupt such meetings, through
arrests and thuggery.</p>
<p>In an interview given shortly before his arrest, the Brotherhood for
Democracy’s co-founder Nguyen Van Dai stated that “it is time for domestic
democracy activists to gather to discuss and find the shortest path for
democracy in Vietnam.”</p>
<p>Some activists think that enough online agitation will eventually force the
Party to implement its own reforms and open up space for a multiparty political
system, akin to how some Eastern European nations threw off their communist
parties.</p>
<p>The Party clearly fears the potential for some type of “color revolution,”
through mass street protests or a nationwide strike, that is potentially
organized online.</p>
<p>Tuong Vu, professor of political science at the University of Oregon, thinks
that while online activism will “become more difficult” because of greater
repression “the effects will be temporary.” He says the public’s long-standing
grievances on issues like corruption, land grabbing and environmental disasters
will remain and grow even with more online restrictions.</p>
<p>But even if the Party is unable to completely suppress online spaces and
censor social media, there are parallel concerns about the state of Vietnam’s
netizen activism.</p>
<p>One is that critics often find themselves within an online “echo chamber,”
speaking only to those who already agree with their criticisms of the Party.
Another is that online activism is focused only on spreading information about
rather than organizing an effective alternative to the Communist Party’s
rule.</p>
<p>By David Hutt - Asia Times - June 2, 2018</p>Vietnam’s internet to crawl as repair work starts on infamous cableurn:md5:adc0b326f6a41b899da1415c86850aae2018-05-27T18:13:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishInformation Technologyinternet<p>This is the second time the AAG hit pause this year, following a reset last
January.</p> <p>Internet connections in Vietnam are expected to run at snail’s pace in the
coming week as a major undersea cable will go under repair.</p>
<p>A local internet service provider said the Asia America Gateway (AAG) is
being fixed and work will reach the part connected to Vietnam' southern beach
town Vung Tau on Sunday. It is scheduled to finish on June 5.</p>
<p>The incident would affect all service providers in Vietnam, meaning that
internet users will have to face the sluggish speed on international
websites.</p>
<p>Several internet service providers are ready to reroute and transfer signals
to other cables to minimize the impacts on users.</p>
<p>This is the second time the AAG encountered a technical problem this year,
following a reset last January, and at least five similar incidents in
2017.</p>
<p>Connected in November 2009, the $560-million AAG handles more than 60
percent of the country’s international internet traffic. The system runs more
than 20,000 kilometers (12,420 miles), connecting Southeast Asia and the U.S.,
passing through Brunei, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.</p>
<p>Vietnam currently has six submarine cable systems, as well as a 120 gigabit
channel that runs overland through China. With a download speed of 5.46
megabytes per second, Vietnam's internet speed was ranked 74th out of 189
countries and territories in a global survey of broadband speeds compiled by
Cable.co.uk, a U.K. broadband, TV, phone and mobile provider, last August.</p>
<p>Vietnam's average broadband speed was 10 times lower than its Southeast
Asian neighbor Singapore, according to the survey. However, the country still
managed to trump six other countries in the region.</p>
<p>More than 50 million people in Vietnam, or more than half of the country’s
population, are online.</p>
<p>By Bao Anh - VnExpress.net - May 26, 2018</p>Fintech and Foreign Banks Growing Fast in Vietnamurn:md5:768b1c6d4a186b151e71c0d9ef1712f42018-05-25T14:51:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishbankforeignersInformation Technology<p>Vietnam currently lags behind other Southeast Asian countries when it comes
to financial inclusion. Can foreign players and fintech solutions fill the
gap ?</p> <p>n Vietnam financial technology is increasing bank penetration, promoting
financial services and offering the large unbanked population access to payment
solutions. With a population of almost 93 million and a surging middle class,
foreign banks are also keen to penetrate the market.</p>
<p>Asia-Pacific focused consulting firm Solidiance, in its recently published
report, «Unlocking Vietnam's Fintech Growth Potential», credits the growth of
financial services in the country to several factors.</p>
<p><strong>Quickly Adapting</strong></p>
<p>Among the main drivers are high rates of internet and smartphone
penetration, the increasing adoption of e-wallets and a fast-growing liking for
e-commerce. All of which are underpinned by swiftly rising salaries and a
burgeoning consumer sector.</p>
<p>More traditional banking services are growing in the country too with banks
from more mature North Asian markets deepening their penetration. Korean
institutions have been particularly aggressive in developing onshore business
in Vietnam.</p>
<p><strong>Technology Leap</strong></p>
<p>Shinhan Bank, which acquired ANZ Bank Vietnam's retail division in April
2017 as finews.asia reported, opened four more branches recently, bulking up
its network to 30 branches. Fellow Korean lender Woori Bank will also open six
more branches this year.</p>
<p>With a limited population and an over-banked domestic market, Singaporean
banks see Vietnam as a new banking hinterland. Singapore's United Overseas Bank
received its in-principle foreign-owned subsidiary bank licence in Vietnam in
2017.</p>
<p>The foreign banks entering Vietnam bring with them advanced systems and
growing expertise in financial technology. They are also exporting their softer
skills in training and advising on the development of regulatory
infrastructure.</p>
<p>Finews.asia - May 22, 2018</p>US raises concerns about Vietnam’s proposed cybersecurity lawurn:md5:baa5cc56fd4a70b30881df5633fecac42018-05-25T14:25:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishInformation TechnologyinternetUnited States of America<p>The United States has raised concerns with Vietnam about its proposed
cybersecurity law, the US Embassy said on May 24, amid activists' fears the new
legislation will cause economic harm and crackdown on online dissent in the
communist-ruled country.</p> <p>The concerns were conveyed by Deputy US Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish
in a meeting with Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue.</p>
<p>Gerrish “raised US concerns about Vietnam's proposed cybersecurity law,
including the impact of localisation requirements and restrictions on
cross-border services for the future development and growth of Vietnam's
economy,” the US Embassy in Hanoi said in a statement.</p>
<p>Facebook, Google and other global companies are pushing back hard against
provisions outlined by the proposed law that would require them to store
personal data locally on users in Vietnam and open offices in the country.</p>
<p>But they have not taken the same tough stance on parts of the proposed law
that would bolster the government's crackdown on online political activism.</p>
<p>The latest draft of the cybersecurity law, also released on Thursday,
retained the requirement to store personal data locally.</p>
<p>The Vietnam Digital Communication Association (VCDA) said of the latest
draft that it could reduce Vietnam's GDP by 1.7% and wipe off 3.1% of foreign
investment if it comes into effect.</p>
<p>The VCDA said that particular requirement should be removed, citing similar
rules in Indonesia it said were “hard to implement in reality”.</p>
<p>It also said the regulation would increase cost to both foreign and
Vietnamese firms, hamper Vietnam's attractiveness among foreign investors, and
potentially violate Vietnam's international commitments.</p>
<p>The draft law bans humiliating or slanderous content, “propaganda against
the state of Vietnam”, and the incitement of riots or disturbance of public
order.</p>
<p>If passed, the law would require social media companies in Vietnam to remove
offending content from their platforms within one day of receiving a request
from the Ministry of Information and Communications, and Vietnam's Ministry of
Security, the government body tasked with oppressing dissent in the
country.</p>
<p>The VCDA said the requirements for identifying illegal content under the law
are unclear, incomplete, and “risk of infringing upon the basic economic and
political rights of citizens”, in Vietnam.</p>
<p>Lawmakers are scheduled to vote on a final draft of the law on June 15.</p>
<p>Reuters - May 25, 2018</p>Vietnam's Danang begins makeover into 'smart city'urn:md5:e2c2b2bb3c58a31790d7dcc7717d4ec82018-04-22T14:30:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiNews in englishDa NangInformation Technology<p>FPT aims to tackle traffic jams while revamping farms and hospitals</p> <p>Vietnamese information technology leader FPT looks to turn Danang into a
&quot;smart city&quot; in two years, focusing on fields such as agriculture, medicine,
energy and traffic.</p>
<p>The company plans to spend 15 billion Vietnamese dong ($658,000) on pilot
projects in the country's third-largest metropolis over the next year, aiming
to begin smart city operations in 2020. FPT and the city of Danang signed a
memorandum of understanding Thursday.</p>
<p>Bringing smart technologies to Danang likely will boost the Hanoi-based
company's &quot;internet of things&quot; business. &quot;The internet of things holds the key
to growth,&quot; FPT Chairman Truong Gia Binh said.</p>
<p>FPT will work to prevent traffic jams on Danang's streets through real-time
monitoring of roads and management of traffic signals. The company also plans
to introduce an electronic patient record system for hospitals as well as a
crop management tool for farmers. Technology would be used in responding to
natural disasters such as tsunamis and floods as well.</p>
<p>In 2016, the company opened an IT hub in Danang, where it employs 10,000
engineers. Danang offers cheaper labor costs than Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City,
and its abundance of science and engineering schools helps FPT secure talent.
The city's potential as a tech hub continues to grow as companies from Japan,
Europe and the U.S. start to gather.</p>
<p>Plans to create smart cities are underway in other parts of Vietnam. Hanoi
is slated to become a smart city by 2023 with help from a public-private
partnership between Japan's trade ministry and companies such as Sumitomo Corp.
and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Ho Chi Minh City has teamed with the real
estate arm of Singaporean conglomerate Keppel to develop smart
technologies.</p>
<p>By Atsushi Tomiyama - Nikkei Asian Review - April 21, 2018</p>La réalité virtuelle au Vietnamurn:md5:90a6e6f8de7fcd50d020ad2a4afc9f912018-04-15T14:33:00+02:00Vietnam aujourd'huiInfos en françaisInformation Technologyscience<p>La réalité virtuelle, aussi appelée VR, est une technologie qui vous coupe
du monde réel et qui vous immerge dans un monde virtuel. Le Vietnam commence à
l’appliquer dans de nombreux domaines.</p> <p>L’expression &quot;réalité virtuelle&quot; désigne un ensemble de technologies
permettant de simuler la présence d’un utilisateur dans un environnement généré
artificiellement. La finalité est de faire vivre une expérience dite
&quot;immersive&quot;, c’est-à-dire aussi proche que possible du réel. Avec la VR,
l’utilisateur est plongé dans un monde qu’il peut explorer du regard, parfois
en se déplaçant ou même en agissant.</p>
<p>Dans l’éducation, le grand avantage de l’utilisation de la réalité virtuelle
est la capacité d’interaction particulière permettant à l’homme de se retrouver
dans n’importe quel environnement sans barrières financières, géographiques ou
temporelles.</p>
<p>Notamment, la réalité virtuelle permet une immersion totale de l’étudiant
dans son cours. La stimulation des sens plus intensive peut aider aussi à mieux
mémoriser. Par exemple, dans le cas où l’apprenant est immergé dans un
environnement 3D reproduisant une grande bataille, ce n’est non pas
l’imagination mais la vision qui aidera l’utilisateur à mémoriser les détails
d’un évènement historique.</p>
<p>Ces avantages cognitifs indubitables permettent d’apprendre plus vite et
donc de gagner du temps sur une méthode d’apprentissage classique.</p>
<p>En dehors de l’éducation, la réalité virtuelle est une technologie
prometteuse dans le domaine de la santé. Elle est très utile dans les
recherches, le traitement et la réhabilitation des patients. Actuellement, des
psychiatres de l’université de Louisville aux États-Unis utilisent la réalité
virtuelle afin de combattre les phobies de leurs patients.</p>
<p>En plus de l’éducation et de la santé, un domaine prometteur de la VR est le
divertissement. De nombreux experts dans le secteur estiment que les lunettes
VR vont remplacer à terme les lunettes 3D.</p>
<p>Notamment, selon les prévisions des experts, le développement de la réalité
virtuelle va changer l’industrie touristique, et permettre de visiter des lieux
sans même avoir à se déplacer.</p>
<p>Porte-drapeau de l'industrie 4.0</p>
<p>Nguyên Vu Hiên, directeur de la compagnie Cowell d’Asie, affirme que la
réalité virtuelle est l’une des technologies en avance de la 4e révolution
industrielle. Dans le monde, elle est appliquée dans divers domaines :
divertissement, communication, jeux, architecture, éducation…Le Vietnam
commence à utiliser cette technologie qui sera un grand facteur de
développement dans les années à venir.</p>
<p>Holomia, une start-up vietnamienne, a gagné un grand prix au Salon IDEAS
APEC 2017 avec le projet Holacare. Ce prix est réservé aux start-up d’Asie-
Pacifique sous les conseils du Forum de coopération économique Asie-Pacifique
(APEC) dans le domaine des technologies.</p>
<p>Holacare est un produit qui utilise la réalité virtuelle pour aider les
médecins du monde entier à réaliser leur diagnostic. Il permet aux patients de
connaître le traitement dont ils ont besoin plus rapidement.</p>
<p>Dinh Anh Tuân, créateur du projet Holomia, fait savoir que l’objectif de
Holacara, est d’aider les médecins à mieux exercer leur métier. À l’heure
actuelle, il peut leur être difficile de lire les scans en 2D, et en tirer
toutes les informations nécessaires pour établir leur diagnostic… Actuellement,
de nombreux médecins dans le monde ont fait l’expérience de l’Holacare et les
retours ont été positifs. Au Vietnam, le cas des médecins de l’hôpital Saint
Paul (Hanoï) est un exemple.</p>
<p>En outre, dans le secteur touristique, la technologie 3D scanning de Holomia
a permis aux usagers d’être complètement immergés dans les sites touristiques.
Actuellement, sur la page web de Holomia, on retrouve près de 30 sites
touristiques de Hanoï, Hôi An (Centre) et Hô Chi Minh-Ville.</p>
<p>Affirmant les potentialités de cette technologie au Vietnam, Dào Minh Anh,
directeur général de la Compagnie du contenu numérique GDC, fait savoir que le
Vietnam est prêt à faire face à l’émergence des nouvelles technologies.
Cependant, le pays n’a pas encore de programme de formation approfondie sur la
réalité virtuelle, y compris dans les universités et les centres de formation
sur les technologies d’information.</p>
<p>&quot;C’est le bon moment pour que les entreprises vietnamiennes mettent en
application pas à pas les nouvelles technologies dont la réalité virtuelle, et
élaborent leurs stratégies de développement à l’heure de la 4e révolution
industrielle&quot;, souligne Bùi Thành Dô, directeur de la sarl Co-Well Asia.</p>
<p>Agence Vietnamienne d'Information - 15 avril 2018</p>